Press-board for stacks of soles



J. A. STONE.

PRESS BOARD FOR STACKS 0F SOLES.

APPLICATION F|LEDJUNE23.1919.

l 9.3 48 5 2 l Patented Aug. 3, 1920.

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JOHN A. STONE, OF DERHY, NEWl-XAIXTPSHIRE, ASSIGNOR TO IEVING L. IKETH, OF HAVERHILL, L'IASSAC-USETTS.

rnEss-Boann ron. smacks vor* setas.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 3, 1920.

Application led June 23, 1919. Sei'al No. 306,126.

To all whom it may Concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN A. STONE, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Derry, county of Rockingham, State of New Hampshire, have invented an Improvement in Press-Boards for Stacks of Soles, of whichthe following is a speciication.

This invention primarily relates to devices used in adhesively connecting tap and shank pieces, ory a reinforcing sole to the soles of shoes, preparatory to the sole-attaching operation, and more particularly, Where the parts to be connected are placed in stacks while the adhesive is fresh and are pressed together between planks or boards and are retained in this position by a suitable strap or binding device.

More specifically the invention relates to certain improvements on the sole-pressing devices shown inv the patent to Brittain #1,247,214: in which the pressing devices comprise a pair of wooden planks or boards which are employed as pressing members for the stack of soles, the adjacent sides of which are concave, and which are adapted to be sprung to an extent when clamped together.

The primary purpose of this construction was to secure an eXtra heavy pressure on the toe and shank portions of the tap, but the results secured with devices of this character are not satisfactory for all classes of work of this character, and they are particularly unsatisfactory where it is desired to attacha tap piece of one thickness and a shank piece of another thickness to each sole, for the reason that said devices will not conform to the different variations in height of the more or less irregular surfaces which are pressed together, to cause satisfactory adhesion. Moreover, as a considerable number of soles are stacked in one pile, these differences frequently become multiplied, although one-half the soles are usually arranged with the toes at one end of the board and one-half with the toes at the opposite end, to minimize this effect. Also it frequently happens that, on account of variations in thickness in the leather, the stack is higher at one side than at the other, so that, with previous methods, the pressure applied at the lower side was insufficient.

The obiect of my invention is to provide a form of press board which is adapted'for use in the connection above indicated, and

which yis further adapted to conform to the irregularities due to variations in thickness of the sole and of the parts which are ce mented thereto, so that a substantially uniform pressure, or at least, a suliicient pressure for the purpose of securing adhesion, will be applied to all portions ofthe end surfaces of the stack. j v

l accomplish this object by providing the form of press board shown in the acconr panying drawing in which Figure l is a side elevation of the device illustrating its manner ofl use.

Fig. 2 is a sectional view at line 2 2 of Fig. l.

Figs. 8 and i are, respectively, side edge and planviews of the device. 7

Fig. 5 is a view of a shoe sole, indicating the character 'of some of the work performed. y

As shown in the drawing, the press board comprises two `identically formed, oblong, or rectangular shaped boards, or strips of flexible wood, a and (preferably of about ig thick ash), which are connected at their ends, te opposite sidesofa and d of equal thickness and of a vlength equal to the width of said'boards, andare held in parallel relation thereby, any suitable connecting means being employed, between said boards and cleats, such Vas screws or nails c, which will permit a slight swinging movement `of the boards relative to the cleats.

rllhe thickness ofthe cleats c and Z is suftipair of cleats c cient to space the boards a and Z) apart to an extent which will enable them to yield toward each other as much as their flexibility will permit, or as much as the necessities of 'their use may require, withoutr touching one another, it being understood that this result would be secured even if the boards were not heldin exact parallelism, although such arrangement is preferable for the purpose for which the device is designed.

ln practice, the soles, to which a tap piece and a shank piece have been freshly Vcemented, as indicated in Fig.' 5, are placed in a stack, and one of the pairs of boards a and E are placed on both the top and bot tom thereof, or, in case the stack is small, a stiff plank of wood f may be employed at one'end, as indicated in Fig. 1. An iron strap vdevice g, of well known form is placed about the stack and locked while the stack is compressed in a suitable press, as described in said prior patent to Brittain, so that, when the pressure is removed, the press boards will be held in clamping engagement with the stack by the strap.

Under these conditions the outer board, as a, which is engaged by the strap, will be sprung or bowed inward, uniformly, the greatest depression ,being at the middle, and the inner board, which directly engages the soles, will be sprung inward according to the resistance encountered at the different points, as indicated in F ig. l. That is, in practice, the tap pieces are usually of one thickness, and the shanlr pieces of another, so that the extent to which the inner board will be forced to yield will be greater at points opposite thetap pieces than those opposite the shank pieces, and, while the pressure applied to the higher portions will be somewhat greater than at the lower portions, the pressure which will be applied to the lower portions will be suiicient to hold these parts in suliiciently close engagement to cause satisfactory adhesion. Also, in case some of the soles or taps should be of greater thickness, at one edge than at the other, `then the resistance at the side of the stack having the thicker edges will be greater than that at the opposite side, so that the inner board will be forced to yield to a greater extent at the side having the thicker edges, than at the other side, as indicated in Fig. 2. ln other words, the inner board will yield in varying degrees at different points according to the resistance to the compressing action which it may encounter, so that the resistance encountered at one portion will not prevent suitable compression at other points, which offer substantially less resistance, the device thus being, to a substantial extent, selfadapting to conditions. y y

In case a particularly high stack of soles is built, or in case of particularly great unevenness of the soles vand parts to be connected7 it frequently is found desirable to interpose one of the above described devices in the middle portion of the stack, as indicated in the dotted line position of Fig. l, in which case each board which makes up the opposite portions of the device, will. yield according to the amount of resistance which it meets at any point, so that a suitable amount of pressure will be applied at other points.

The device is further advantageous in that leather subjected to continuous pressure will yield, although it will not yield, to the full extent, at the time pressure is rst applied, but as the boards, of which the device is constructed, will yield at this time, their resiliency will compensate for the yielding of the leather at a later time, so that the pressure on the stack will not be substantially reduced; Y

Iclaim:-'- v y l. A pressing device for the purpose described, comprising a pair ofresilient boards disposed in parallelism and spacing devices disposed between said boards, at their ends, to hold them in spaced `relation and-to permit them to be flexed toward each other, at points between said spacing devices;

2. A pressing device for the purpose described, comprising a pair of resilient boards disposed in parallelism, a pair of cleats transversely disposed therebetween at each end and means to connect said boards and cleats to hold the boards in spaced relation and to permit them to be flexed toward each other at pointsbetween saidA cleats.

3. A device for pressing one end of a stack of soles, comprising a pair of oblong boards, disposed in parallelism, and cleats transversely disposed between said boards at their ends and connected thereto, to hold the same in spaced relation, the worl engaging board being resilient and adapted to yield toward the other board, to conform to the work.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification. v i

,roi-nv A'. sroNn. 

